Campaigning For Dummies

Steve Benen has a very useful primer on how to win elections. I suggest every Democrat, especially Tim Kaine, pick it up and learn it verbatim.

I say especially Tim Kaine because the truth is as much shit as we talk about RNC Chairman Michael Steele, if he had lost the races that Kaine has already lost he would have been tossed out on his ass. I have to wonder why Kaine has gotten a pass so far. And no, this isn't on some racial shit. This is on some INCOMPETENCE shit.

More ACORN Bullshit

Just keep banging that drum wingnuts. Evidently they never learned the lesson of the boy who cried wolf.

Why The Public Option Isn't Dead

If you want to know, go read Steve's and Greg's take on this NYTimes piece.

Good stuff!!!

Playa Please

I don't have much to add to what Steve Benen has to say about Chuck Grassley's insane and unserious assertation that all the Gang of Six needed was a couple of more weeks to get broad bipartisan support for the Senate Finance health care reform bill and that, get this, he resents how the White House has treated him.

Oh and Greg Sargent puts his jackassery in terms even a kid could understand.

It can not be repeated enough, THIS is the guy that Max Baucus decided it was worthwhile to negotiate with on health care reform rather than using the full Senate Finance committee.

EPIC FAIL

They Miss The Soundbites And Bumper Stickers

I really think our media was somewhat spoiled during the Bush years in that because he spoke in such simplistic and nonnuanced terms belying his lack of substantive thought, the press core didn't have to think too hard to do any reporting on him. Now that we have President Obama in office and he can actually answer a question in more than a slogan or a ready made soundbite, the Villagers are quite miffed. The reaction to President Obama's grasp of the issues during the health care reform press conference on Wednesday was particularly laughable as Steve Benen points out.

AN AVERSION TO SUBSTANCE.... MSNBC's First Read had an item yesterday about the president's prime-time news conference, which it called a "snoozer," and criticized Obama for his depth and substantive responses. (via DougJ)

"Honest question: Is there a point when the president knows too much about an issue?" First Read asked. "He got into the weeds a number of times on a number of different aspects of health care, which is what his diehard supporters love, but might not grab the attention of the average viewer."

Apparently, the president may have done more to impress if he'd talked down to the country.
Paul Krugman is right to seem frustrated.

The talking heads on cable TV panned President Obama's Wednesday press conference. You see, he didn't offer a lot of folksy anecdotes.

Shame on them. The health care system is in crisis. The fate of America's middle class hangs in the balance. And there on our TVs was a president with an impressive command of the issues, who truly understands the stakes.

This might be less frustrating if it weren't so common. There are notable exceptions, but too many major media figures not only steer clear of policy details, they seem genuinely annoyed by those who prefer more substantive in the discourse.

People had better wake up to the reality that our lazy press corps don't care about keeping us informed. They just care about being able to do their job while exerting as little mental effort as possible. And with something as important to all of us as health care reform the stakes are too high to rely on these idiots to give us the facts.

I thank God for the internet, every single day.

What's Good For The Goose...

I'm one of those who believe that politics is a full contact sport and that Democrats, historically, have not been willing at times play the game in a way maximizes their advantage. Now there are some things that Republicans do, like just making up shit, or trying to play on people's paranoia that I would never want a party I was associated with doing. However on other matters, like questioning members of the opposing party's patriotism, I feel like whatever they do we should be doing better. Recently I took issue with a post that Time's Joe Klein put up at Swampland about some of the ridiculous attacks that John McCain has launced against President Obama. The truth is I agreed with just about everything Klein said in the post (something that is surprisingly happening a lot more often these days) except for one specific part.

He wrote:

To put it as simply as possible, McCain--and his cohorts--are trying to score political points against the President in the midst of an international crisis. It is the sort of behavior that Republicans routinely call "unpatriotic" when Democrats are doing it. I would never question John McCain's patriotism, no matter how misguided his sense of the country's best interests sometimes seems. His behavior has nothing to do with love of country; it has everything to do with love of self.

To which I retorted:

I want to make a few observations.

1. If you realize that Republican pull the unpatriotic smear out of their back pocket at the drop of a dime then I hope that means the next time you hear it from there whether its a week, month year or decade from now you will LOUDLY call bullsh*t.

2. What does it mean when a Senator acts out of love of self rather than love of country. To me it sounds like you just called McCain out for acting unpatriotically but just didn't want to say the word. And I have a problem with that.

See the problem that I have with it is that he really IS acting unpatriotically. He is ONLY trying to score political points and you yourself acknowledge that. But you try to set up this false equivalence of how Republicans treated Dems who spoke truth to power and what McCain is doing now. See the Dems who were smeared by Republicans for questioning Bush before we went to war in Iraq and who denounced the torture we were doing in GITMO and who spoke out against wireless wiretapping really WERE speaking out in the country's best interest. And they WERE speaking truth to power. And yet the media time and again allowed the Republicans to tar and feather them with the "unpatriotic" smear when what they were doing was the most patriotic thing possible.

On the other hand McCain and his cohorts know good and damn well that all of the things they are attacking Pres Obama is bullsh*t. Thats why when the few responsible journalists out there ask them what they want Pres Obama to say instead McCain nor the rest of them can't give a good response. And again I am preaching to the choir here because you have already acknowledged its all politics with them.

So why can't you call it what it is Joe? Why can't you bring yourself to say he is acting unpatriotically when you know that to be the case? I guess yet again IOKIYAR.

Well its one thing for Villagers to stick their heads in the sand and refuse to use attacks on the GOP that the GOP has no problem with using on Democrats on a regular basis, but its something altogether different in my eyes for Democrats to refuse to do it as well. If you want to take the moral high ground I would suggest you go find a monestary. But in the political world, serious changes that we need to have enacted in this country will be decided many times by which side wins in the court of public opinion. And every once in awhile that means we are going to have to get down and dirty with Republicans in the same fashion they have hit us below the belt in the past.

Well now we hear from Steve Benen that the DCCC at least has decided to go there.

Last week, of course, the situation was reversed, and it was House Republicans "voting against funding our troops." This week, the DCCC is unveiling a series of 60-second radio ads targeting seven vulnerable GOP incumbents on their votes. This one, for example, goes after Rep. Lee Terry (R) of Nebraska.

"Around here, we recognize Independence Day with parades ... and picnics ... maybe a few fireworks.

"But July Fourth is about more than that. It's about remembering those who fought for our freedoms. And those still fighting today.

"Congressman Lee Terry used to understand that. When George Bush asked, Congressman Terry voted to fully fund our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. And, last year he said, quote, 'We must give our military every resource it needs.'

"Seems like Congressman Terry is playing politics now. Last month Congressman Terry voted AGAINST funding for those same troops. It's true: vote number 348 -- you can look it up."

The tone of Benen's post comes off, at least to me, as somewhat apologetic. Honestly that ad does my heart good. I don't think there is a damn thing to apologize for when we start turning the tables on Republicans for the slimy shit they pulled on us for the last 8 years. If you ask me we need MORE of those kinds of ads and then we will get public opinion moving more in the direction we would like.

Every single time a Republican speaks out against closing GITMO I would put out an ad saying that they are smearing prison guards who do a thankless job for not a lot of pay every day by making it seem as if they can't handle these terrorists.

Every single time a Republican speaks out against gay marriage as being a threat to traditional marriage I would compare what they are doing to Jim Crow laws. And I would infer that if we say they can't marry today, will we say they can't vote tomorrow?

Seriously, its time to take the gloves off and go after these scoundrels.

Say what you want about the Karl Rove tactics, but in the end you have to admit they were effective.

I'm Calling Bullshit

E.J. Dionne had an uber concern trolling column today in the Washington Post over President Obama elevating Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich. Now I was going to post on it, but instead I decided to just leave a comment on the WaPo website telling Dionne to grow a pair and quit being scared of a fight. There is no way in hell an objective person would say that Rush or Newt are "winning" this fight. It really comes down to Dionne being worried about them dominating news cycles. But you see THAT'S THE POINT! We want those douchebags on Tee Vee all day everyday, not for the idiotic pundits who will try to score balls and strikes, but for the electorate, particularly independents, so they can decide for themselves if they want to align with a party that has those to assholes as "leading voices".


Now like I said, I wasn't going to post on it but then a funny thing happened on the way to the barn. I noticed that several different progressives bloggers that I generally agree with on most things put up posts lauding Dionne's column

Steve Benen

Matty Y

Eric Alterman


Now I don't know if this was some kind of journolist collabo or something (just kidding) but I really fail to understand how they believe what's going on right now will hurt Democrats and or President Obama. But that's how it happens sometimes that liberals and progressives are strong on policy but not as much so on politics. Not to say thats definitely the case here but I don't think any of them E.J. Dionne included could put forth a credible argument how this hurts Democrats politically.

And of course, it it was working Newt Gingrich wouldn't have taken back his words yesterday about calling Judge Sotomayor a racist.

The Love Them Some Liz

Steve Benen asked the folks at MediaMatters to tally up just how many times Liz Cheney had been on Tee Vee lately. You would probably not be surprised to know that it was 12 times over nine and a half days. Thats 12 times for her to defend her daddy's torture program without having any direct knowledge of what happened. What a fucking joke our media is.

They Can't Quit Cheney

Steve Benen has a post up about a new Dan Balz column on Dick Cheney and how GOP operatives aren't exactly happy to have him out there being the face of the Republican party.

Another GOP strategist, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity, pointed out the conundrum for Republicans over the former vice president's current role. "Even if he's right, he's absolutely the wrong messenger," this strategist said. His main worry, he added, is that Cheney keeps the public focused on the past, rather than the future. "We want Bush to be a very distant memory in the next election. The more Cheney is on the front burner, the more difficult it's going to be."

It seems like we've had quite a few of these reports lately -- Cheney keeps presenting himself as the official Republican critic of the White House, and Republicans keep asking why the former vice president won't go back to his undisclosed location.

But notice one key detail: none of Cheney's GOP detractors are willing to go on the record. They want him to go away; they think he's hurting their cause; they're sure he's making Democrats happy by becoming the face of the Republican Party, but not one wants to have his or her name associated with a discouraging word.

The party may not like Cheney, but for reasons that aren't altogether clear, the party clearly fears Cheney. Until the GOP's heavy-hitters get over this, the former vice president will continue to make them look bad.

I think I can help clear this up for Mr. Benen. You see while most rational Americans loathe Dick Cheney not all of us do. Specifically there is a group of people in this country who loves Dick Cheney on almost the same level that the rest of us approve of President Obama.

You see the GOP base thinks Dick Cheney is the bees knees. That means that no matter how much he hurts Republican electoral chances they have to if not embrace him, at least tolerate him. I am sure that vexes them to no end. Oh well, sucks for them, great for us!

A Total Lack of Self Awareness And Personal Responsibility

Now that the story about that scumbag Richard Poplawski in Pittsburgh killing 4 police officers and wounding others because, in the words of his closest friends, he feard that President Obama was going to take his guns, the reactions on the blogs have been interesting to say the least. You can go to several different conservative blogs and you won't find even the hint of responsibility. Instead with the officers' bodies not even cold yet they try to contend that the guy really wasn't concerned about Obama taking his guns but rather that he lost his job, damn what his friends said. Or you might find words to the effect that the REAL tragedy here is that the guy actually helped those dirty fucking hippie liberals in their eternal fight against the second amendment. In still other places what you will find people absolving themselves by declaring that the guy was just insane. Now this last point has actually been echoed even on some progressive and left leaning sites like Washington Monthly.

Well I am calling bullshit on all of that, especially the whole "he was crazy so its nobody's fault" meme. He may very well have been insane, but that doesn't excuse the fearmongering spouted from the wingnuts which helped to push his insanity to a violent and deadly outburst. I am as big a proponent of free speech as anybody but you can't just keep scaring people everyday and making it seem like President Obama is going to personally target them and take away their freedoms and then turn around and not bear a great responsibility when someone acts out this way. Its just the same as why you can't yell fire in a crowded theater. What it comes down to is that your speech is not and should not be protected when you use it in an irresponsible manner to put other people in danger. There can be no better example of that than this situation. Yeah Poplowski may well have been bat shit crazy without all of the 2nd amendment bloviating from the wingnuts but would he have gone out and shot police officers? Would he have went out and bought an AK47? Would he have lived his life in fear of the government personally oppressing him? I don't believe so at all.

Now I don't expect the assholes on the right to ever change their ways because even though they preach personal responsibility you rarely see them take any, however its about damned time that we on the left stop giving them free passes. When they incite violence they need to be called out for it and held accountable. When they fearmonger and it leads to a tragedy, they should be made to own it. When they preach armed rebellion and revolution and then a nutcase actually goes out and attempts some of the things they allude to then the connections have to be made. I can tell you right now that I personally am not looking forward to 4 to 8 more years of this shit. The only way to change the behavior of the right is to try to shame them. If people actually start pointing directly at them when this stuff happens instead of letting them off the hook then maybe, just maybe, they will calm all that fear mongering bullshit down. But every single time we give them a pass with that "its nobody's fault" bullshit we damn near insure that they will continue to preach conspiracy and violence and sooner or later tragedy will happen once again.

Now as for the assholes on the right who are unsurprisingly now using this incident to score political points, (yes I am looking at you, Malkin, JamieWearingFool, FloppingAces et al) what you are doing is fucking reprehensible. Its amazing how much you claim to love the military and the police but then turn around and publish the pictures of these fallen officers not to honor their memory, but to talk about what you think the left is doing or saying. Well let me explain it to you dumbasses. Nobody gives a shit about gun control right now. What we give a damn about is the fucked up things you are saying and inciting this violence. I own guns and I have no interest in repealing the 2nd amendment but by the same fucking token I don't want to be out in public and end up getting shot because some whack job has been watching too much FoxNews or reading too much bullshit on freeper and then they just go over the edge and really try to start an armed resolution. If you dickheads had any kind of respect you would tone the bullshit down. But because you are all slimy ass bottom feeding bitches I am sure you will simply continue to fearmonger and try to scare people into sharing your beliefs and put even more police officers' lives in jeopardy.

Judd Gregg Goes Full WingNut

Yesterday Judd Gregg said that the United States wouldn't qualify to join the EU right now because of our deficits. Of course he was wrong. But the truth is Gregg has been wrong about quite a lot lately and yet he still gets major airplay on major cable news stations primarily because he was the nominee for Commerce Secretary for about five seconds. Steve Benen over at Washington Monthly takes him down.

It's worth remembering that Gregg doesn't know what he's talking about. The EU offers flexibility to governments that are responding to economic crises -- note to Gregg: we're in the midst of an economic crisis -- and several EU members will run deficits well above 3% this year. Those countries will be expected to lower those deficits in the coming years, which not incidentally, is what the Obama administration plans to do in the U.S.

For that matter, Gregg repeatedly supported, enthusiastically, Bush budgets that ran deficits that were more than 3% of GDP. Gregg did not, at the time, run to the cable networks to whine about it.

But let's also note that Gregg is just popping off in the media a little too much lately. In addition to his confusion about the EU, he also told CNN the other day, "The practical implications of [the Obama administration's budget] is bankruptcy for the United States. There's no other way around it. If we maintain the proposals that are in this budget over the ten-year period that this budget covers, this country will go bankrupt. People will not buy our debt, our dollar will become devalued."

First, Gregg is completely wrong. Second, his wildly irresponsible claptrap undermines confidence in the United States on the global stage in the midst of an economic crisis. In other words, by making a series of nonsensical and unsupported claims about our economy, Gregg actually runs the risk of undermining our national interests.

Gregg has been wrong about nearly every major economic challenge of the last couple of decades. If he could take this moment to enjoy a little quiet time, instead of acting like a partisan hack, we'd all be better off.

Its ironic that a man that nobody paid much attention to before now is using his celebrity from being the Commerce Secretary nominee to now use that platform to lob irresponsible accusations at the President who nominated him in the first place. I guess its true when they say no good deed goes unpunished. We can only hope that people see through his facade and notice his hypocrisy from the time George Bush was in office until now.

Molehills/Mountains

Steve Benen calculates the percentage of President Obama's stimulus bill that the House Republicans disagree with. What kind of idiot votes against a bill that is comprised of 98% of things that you agree with? A Republican idiot, that's who.